The Fosters Review: Collateral Damage (Season 4 Episode 10)

It’s hard to believe that we’ve arrived at The Fosters mid-season finale, but here we are.

A lot happens in “Collateral Damage.” The whole gang gets together to watch Someone’s Little Sister perform, and to collect signatures for a new foster care bill that Callie supports.

Many story lines come together in this dramatic episode.

Let’s see where we leave all the characters off:

Brandon
The episode opens with a sweet celebration, as Brandon reads his acceptance letter from Julliard. His family surrounds him and embraces him and it’s a truly happy scene. Nothing could go wrong, right? As if the show would really get away with Brandon moving to New York City!

Watching Brandon crumble at the news that his own actions have ruined his chances at attending the school of his dreams is heartbreaking. Lena breaks it to him that the student he took the SATs for got caught and confessed to everything. Brandon doesn’t even protest. He wears the look of utter defeat.

It’s a roller-coaster of a ride following this character. As much as I spend time knocking on him and his lousy judgment and poor choices, he’s still sympathetic. It was also a nice touch to have Lena by his side. She’s done such a great job all around. I really love the relationship these two have.

Jude
Although Jude is grounded and not allowed to see Noah; he does so anyway, with a joint in tow! How I love young, forbidden romance.

Stef
Things get a little interesting with Stef when the sketchy, corrupt detective continues to threaten her job. He even brings up that incident with Mike shooting an unarmed guy! Points for continuity, I almost forgot that happened. Maybe it’s in all of our best interests if we just continue to forget.

Callie
The lame Aaron and A.J. thing comes to head, as does the conflict with Mike, but none of those things matter because we get a mention of Justina Marks and she threatens Callie through the phone. Callie momentarily halts in her tracks, but Stef gives her the pep talk she needs and then she’s back to being a crusader for justice.

Then something weird happens and Callie meets the grandson of the woman Kyle is convicted of murdering. She gets in a car with him to look for a missing Mariana (more on that in a second) and then Aaron calls to let her know that the murderer was likely a male family member.

Are we gearing up towards another hostage situation? Because I really don’t have the energy for that.

Mariana and Jesus
Mariana, in a drug-induced daze, starts to experience hallucinations of Nick, who is now out on house arrest. She wanders off and Nick finds her and tries to calm her down. In comes Jesus, believing that Nick is harming his sister, and gets into a brawl with him.

Nick punches Jesus square in the nose, (which is sensitive due to his surgery ) leaving him on the floor unconscious.

Can’t this kid catch a break? No good deed, man. He was only defending his sister, but Nick also wasn’t doing anything wrong in this instance. Except, well…breaking house arrest.

The best part about this story is that it’s now over. Over in the sense that Mariana will probably stop taking the drugs and Nick will probably be sent away forever, which is not something I want because I actually like Nick, or who Nick was at the beginning of his introduction (mostly because I like the actor).

Whether Jesus suffers major health repercussions or not is something the show will probably explore when it returns, but things don’t look good for our favorite Adams-Foster.

Other final thoughts:

• Oh my God, Callie’s sister Sophia makes an appearance! What ever happened to that family? I still regret the fact that Callie didn’t get more of a story-line with her biological dad, Robert. I think it would have been a realistic option for Callie to move in with him and embrace that family as her own. That way, she could have dated Brandon if she wanted to. Can we please bring Robert back?
• There’s no mention of Gabe. Please come back and let’s tackle this depression story with the refreshing insight it rightfully deserves.
• Matt is leaving for college and we don’t care.
• Although this wasn’t the strongest batch of episodes, there were some memorable moments, and I’m really curious to see how the second half of the season goes.

What did you think of this episode of The Fosters? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Fosters will return on Freeform in Janurary.

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